austria be california

This is not a blog entry about Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian born governor of California. 

This is far more important: Austria is in the middle of discussing the possibility of partnerships regardsless of the potential spouses’ sex. Finally! 

The draft legislation was just under review and garnered more than 110 statements. As thisstatement by Cardinal Schönborn shows, tensions are running high to the point of overtly discriminating gays, lesbians and transgender persons. Bottom line is: the more conservative people in Austria do not want to grant gays and lesbian something that could appear to equal “marriage” because it would weaken the “institute” of marriage. Given that the latest divorce rates are 50% for Austria generally and more than 60% in Vienna it appears that the “institute” is undermining itself a little. That said there are self-evidently tons of human rights issues involved in a divorce, most obviously the rights of children.

Side note on the vibrancy of democracy in Austria. Another important piece of draft legislation is the Data Security Act, almost 90 submissions were made. Hurray!